Today I've at last started my delayed quest: playing Remember 11 in Japanese. Luckily it runs well on my system.
Also as an alternative to studying at smart.fm I make Anki lists of words I find unfamiliar in the game. Of course, just as any other literature work in contains a lot of "new" words for me... as, for example, 口号む (くちずさむ or kuchizusamu) meaning "to hum; to sing to oneself; to compose impromptu (poems)".
It is quite educational task even if I'd forget many of those ords (if they would not repeat themselves) till I reach the end of the game. At least any end :)
Thursday, February 24
on medicines
it has happened again. friends and relatives have depleted my supply of medicines, be it cold medicine or painkiller. generally I don't say no if someone I know asks for a tablet or two (or more). but now we came to a line when if I'd need something from my late supply, I'd have to run to drugstore...
Tuesday, February 22
ok, I'm done transferring
That's it, I'm done importing posts. From now on everything I wrote is up to date :)
Tall vs. short
Few days ago I had a talk with my grandmother. Not that surprisingly the topic of conversation shifted to difference between ‘those times’ and present times. And since she’s 75 now ‘her’ time was more than 50 years ago.
What struck me was the fact that in ‘her’ time she claimed to be one of the most tall women and to think about it, it seems true enough. Have you ever noticed that old ladies are generally small and short?
Only 50 years have passed and while my grandma was considered tall with her 160cm, me being 170cm is only average. Many girls in Europe are taller than me and many are shorter, but most are about the same height.
I remember how one of my friends once exclaimed ‘oh how come you’re taller than your parents? my parents are the same height as yours but you are much taller than me’ (yeah, that person certainly has a bit of ‘height complex’, but nevertheless)...
Really why did I grow taller than my parents? xD
People are growing taller with each consequent generation. Even countries that usually were a home to relatively ‘short’ people are now dealing with it.
Some tried to prove reduction in Earth’s gravity is causing it, some claim it’s ‘rise in standards of living’... What’s important is how it’s going to affect our lives.
—--
Ok, I wrote many more things here at first, but then deleted all of them.
Some people might find my thoughts aggravating so let them stay in my mind. ^^
What struck me was the fact that in ‘her’ time she claimed to be one of the most tall women and to think about it, it seems true enough. Have you ever noticed that old ladies are generally small and short?
Only 50 years have passed and while my grandma was considered tall with her 160cm, me being 170cm is only average. Many girls in Europe are taller than me and many are shorter, but most are about the same height.
I remember how one of my friends once exclaimed ‘oh how come you’re taller than your parents? my parents are the same height as yours but you are much taller than me’ (yeah, that person certainly has a bit of ‘height complex’, but nevertheless)...
Really why did I grow taller than my parents? xD
People are growing taller with each consequent generation. Even countries that usually were a home to relatively ‘short’ people are now dealing with it.
Some tried to prove reduction in Earth’s gravity is causing it, some claim it’s ‘rise in standards of living’... What’s important is how it’s going to affect our lives.
Ok, I wrote many more things here at first, but then deleted all of them.
Some people might find my thoughts aggravating so let them stay in my mind. ^^
Ukraine\Kiev - Obolon' district (my personal opinion)
Step by step Kiev is becoming a city of contrasts (hehe, that’s a pun I love from the old USSR movies… “Стамбул – город контрастов” ^^ ).
Last week I went to another part of the city on business and couldn’t stop myself from taking few photos.
Obolon’ district is newly promoted “vip-district” with its “fine buildings”, “improved infrastructure” and “picturesque harbor”. If you look at one side of the street you’ll see modern-looking residential area.
[Like this]:
Well yeah, if you look at buildings solely it may seem nice. But I don’t find harbor too picturesque and infrastructure too improved. It’s the same dirty (because … there’s a lot of dirt ALWAYS) old post-USSR Kiev, but in new clothes.
You look at another side of the street and you see the same old view of gray and sullen panel buildings accompanied by usual dirt and tired faces.
[Like this]:
To the left so-called ‘Europe’ and to the right ‘Ukraine’.
Personally I don’t like how businessmen try to make Obolon’ look like a vip district (prices for apartments are very high there). And I can’t say I like that part of the city.
If I had to chose between left bank’s Poznyaki district or right bank’s Obolon’ district to live in, my choice would be Poznyaki (where apartments are even cheaper ^^). Even though now I reside at the right bank of the city.
Last week I went to another part of the city on business and couldn’t stop myself from taking few photos.
Obolon’ district is newly promoted “vip-district” with its “fine buildings”, “improved infrastructure” and “picturesque harbor”. If you look at one side of the street you’ll see modern-looking residential area.
[Like this]:
Well yeah, if you look at buildings solely it may seem nice. But I don’t find harbor too picturesque and infrastructure too improved. It’s the same dirty (because … there’s a lot of dirt ALWAYS) old post-USSR Kiev, but in new clothes.
You look at another side of the street and you see the same old view of gray and sullen panel buildings accompanied by usual dirt and tired faces.
[Like this]:
To the left so-called ‘Europe’ and to the right ‘Ukraine’.
Personally I don’t like how businessmen try to make Obolon’ look like a vip district (prices for apartments are very high there). And I can’t say I like that part of the city.
If I had to chose between left bank’s Poznyaki district or right bank’s Obolon’ district to live in, my choice would be Poznyaki (where apartments are even cheaper ^^). Even though now I reside at the right bank of the city.
New post How do you translate colloquial expressions?..
Each language has its own idiomatic expressions and it’s not a secret that certain people succeeded in creating dictionaries of such expressions.
But what do you do with colloquial expressions if they haven’t transformed into idioms yet?
I usually come to my wit’s end when my foreign friends ask me to translate some expressive words of my native Russian language.
As you may know Russian has many colorful colloquial phrases that describe events and things in our life (and I don’t count in abusive language). They are not exactly what you can call slang, they’re just language or region specific.
Like jokes that are understood only in your close circle of friends.
For example driving today I came to a conclusion that it’s not only “день грузовика” (‘a day of lorry’), but also “день непуганых идиотов на дорогах” (‘a day of unscared idiots on roads’).
Is it heat or something, but people were driving awfully today… got me really anxious at least 4 times in an hour.
Many such phrases first came into our speech from USSR movies, that’s why there’s still a trend to convert apt quotes from movies into colloquial expressions.
Bad thing is you won’t fully understand what people mean if you haven’t seen the corresponding movie.
If you’ll ask someone why he’s still holding that heavy backpack instead of putting it on the floor chances are you’ll get “я с ним сроднился” (‘I became one with it’) and won’t actually know why it’s supposed to be funny.
Same happens when, for example, someone tells you “я ее и так, и этак, а она – ну никак” (‘I made this and that to her but there’s no response’). You can guess what it means, but joke and half of the meaning are lost in translation.
And check out expression “будем искать” (‘we’ll be searching [for it]). Seems simple enough, but used in certain circumstances may mean not exactly what it means…
I could give you tons of examples of situations when foreigner could be lost in expressions we daily use.
But I regularly have to translate such (and more mean) things into English and sometimes lose my temper…
But what do you do with colloquial expressions if they haven’t transformed into idioms yet?
I usually come to my wit’s end when my foreign friends ask me to translate some expressive words of my native Russian language.
As you may know Russian has many colorful colloquial phrases that describe events and things in our life (and I don’t count in abusive language). They are not exactly what you can call slang, they’re just language or region specific.
Like jokes that are understood only in your close circle of friends.
For example driving today I came to a conclusion that it’s not only “день грузовика” (‘a day of lorry’), but also “день непуганых идиотов на дорогах” (‘a day of unscared idiots on roads’).
Is it heat or something, but people were driving awfully today… got me really anxious at least 4 times in an hour.
Many such phrases first came into our speech from USSR movies, that’s why there’s still a trend to convert apt quotes from movies into colloquial expressions.
Bad thing is you won’t fully understand what people mean if you haven’t seen the corresponding movie.
If you’ll ask someone why he’s still holding that heavy backpack instead of putting it on the floor chances are you’ll get “я с ним сроднился” (‘I became one with it’) and won’t actually know why it’s supposed to be funny.
Same happens when, for example, someone tells you “я ее и так, и этак, а она – ну никак” (‘I made this and that to her but there’s no response’). You can guess what it means, but joke and half of the meaning are lost in translation.
And check out expression “будем искать” (‘we’ll be searching [for it]). Seems simple enough, but used in certain circumstances may mean not exactly what it means…
I could give you tons of examples of situations when foreigner could be lost in expressions we daily use.
But I regularly have to translate such (and more mean) things into English and sometimes lose my temper…
Victory day...
Today was an incredibly humid day even though it wasn’t too hot (thank you God). Yes, it was my holiday and I had to suffer stuffy air all day long.
And all due to the fact that today’s the Victory day (9th of May) – the day when former USSR won World War II.
You may wonder what this has to do with humidity… well, the reason is, it’s been raining for few days here and it was going to rain today too. Of course, officials never risk getting plans for the celebration altered by such a trivial thing as weather. Therefore they used ‘weather guns’ to scatter clouds all over our city (the capital, huh) and prevent rain.
As a result it never actually rained, only random drops fell to the ground, but you could cut air with knife since all that unused water was trapped above the city.
It actually was less stuffy inside than outside, so my plans for a long walk around the city were done for, I just took a walk to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and back (took me two hours or so).
By the way here’s the photo of Kiev Pechersk Lavra (orthodox church complex):
If you walk past Lavra you’ll enter National museum of History of World War II complex, an interesting place to walk once in a while (if you don’t live close enough of course ^^).
A thing you’ll surely find interesting there is Kiev’s biggest (and I mean it – the biggest) monument and popular attraction – a monument of Motherland.
Here’s the picture:
The monument is big (102m high, seems like it’s even higher than 93m-high Statue of Liberty in US) and immensely heavy. As it is situated at the hill, it can be seen from many places in the city.
Here’s how it looks like in general:
When my foreign relatives come to visit Ukraine I usually take them to see World War II history museum. It has good view over river Dniepr, war scenery and ‘lesser’ monuments. I must confess it’s a popular tourist spot, but since I grew up nearby it’s an ordinary thing for me.
Good thing is the celebration is finally over, fireworks display started at 22.00 as it does every year and has ended by now. I hope they will leave weather alone now and we’ll have a nice healthy summer rain.
Did I tell you that I love summer rains? No? Well yeah, I do.
Anyhow, that’s how my holiday went.
Somehow I felt like sharing this with all who’s interested ^^
And all due to the fact that today’s the Victory day (9th of May) – the day when former USSR won World War II.
You may wonder what this has to do with humidity… well, the reason is, it’s been raining for few days here and it was going to rain today too. Of course, officials never risk getting plans for the celebration altered by such a trivial thing as weather. Therefore they used ‘weather guns’ to scatter clouds all over our city (the capital, huh) and prevent rain.
As a result it never actually rained, only random drops fell to the ground, but you could cut air with knife since all that unused water was trapped above the city.
It actually was less stuffy inside than outside, so my plans for a long walk around the city were done for, I just took a walk to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and back (took me two hours or so).
By the way here’s the photo of Kiev Pechersk Lavra (orthodox church complex):
If you walk past Lavra you’ll enter National museum of History of World War II complex, an interesting place to walk once in a while (if you don’t live close enough of course ^^).
A thing you’ll surely find interesting there is Kiev’s biggest (and I mean it – the biggest) monument and popular attraction – a monument of Motherland.
Here’s the picture:
The monument is big (102m high, seems like it’s even higher than 93m-high Statue of Liberty in US) and immensely heavy. As it is situated at the hill, it can be seen from many places in the city.
Here’s how it looks like in general:
When my foreign relatives come to visit Ukraine I usually take them to see World War II history museum. It has good view over river Dniepr, war scenery and ‘lesser’ monuments. I must confess it’s a popular tourist spot, but since I grew up nearby it’s an ordinary thing for me.
Good thing is the celebration is finally over, fireworks display started at 22.00 as it does every year and has ended by now. I hope they will leave weather alone now and we’ll have a nice healthy summer rain.
Did I tell you that I love summer rains? No? Well yeah, I do.
Anyhow, that’s how my holiday went.
Somehow I felt like sharing this with all who’s interested ^^
A night to remember ^^
Today something I read in the net made me remember a silly incident I had few weeks ago.
You know it was a Friday night or something when I was sitting home all alone (naturally) and wanted to relax and watch a movie.
My friend just brought back a DVD I lent her long ago and somehow I decided to watch it.
The movie was “Silent Hill”, not the best title, I know. But it makes you shaky two or three times.
It was just getting to the point of main heroes’ getting to the church for the first time, when I got a bit bored and decided to go and make myself some tea.
So I pressed ‘pause’, left the light on and went to the kitchen. To get to the kitchen I had to pass two small corridors and a big room. When it is pitch dark I always follow small red dots – indicators – placed on the light switches to get people an idea where they are. Of course I know my way around even without them, but it makes life easier ^^.
And when you get to the kitchen light switch, it’s actually in the small corridor between hall and the kitchen itself. So I’m used to the fact that when you stand there you see a distorted reflection of an indicator on a hall light switch in the glass door (yeah, they are pretty bright red).
It was ok when I was passing, but as I went to the kitchen light switch and raised my hand to touch it, all went black. Totally black and silent, without a sound. And then I heard a sound like someone’s scratching a metal with glass, or vise versa.
It was just like those horror movies you watch… The lights go out suddenly, scratching sounds…
I nearly jumped, I swear, and my heart fell. I raised my hand and pushed the switch and then realized the indicators are gone, which means the electricity is gone too.
The metal sound continued and I put myself together to go to the hall and inspect the electricity counter. It was turned on and silent, so the problem lied in the apartment electricity supply.
But I still wasn’t sure what the sound was, so I went around the flat all jumpy, peered out of the windows, took a glimpse of what’s happening behind the front door and then sat down on the sofa. When there’s no electricity there’s no hot water in my flat too. So I just sat and thought and listened to the metallic sounds that were coming from outside. I didn’t bother with finding a candle, I had my mobile phone, but it didn’t help much.
It was (maybe) the longest hour of this month.
Then the electricity supply was restored and I gathered my courage to watch “Silent Hill” until the end. I still do not know what those sounds were, but I’m not too eager to hear them again.
You know it was a Friday night or something when I was sitting home all alone (naturally) and wanted to relax and watch a movie.
My friend just brought back a DVD I lent her long ago and somehow I decided to watch it.
The movie was “Silent Hill”, not the best title, I know. But it makes you shaky two or three times.
It was just getting to the point of main heroes’ getting to the church for the first time, when I got a bit bored and decided to go and make myself some tea.
So I pressed ‘pause’, left the light on and went to the kitchen. To get to the kitchen I had to pass two small corridors and a big room. When it is pitch dark I always follow small red dots – indicators – placed on the light switches to get people an idea where they are. Of course I know my way around even without them, but it makes life easier ^^.
And when you get to the kitchen light switch, it’s actually in the small corridor between hall and the kitchen itself. So I’m used to the fact that when you stand there you see a distorted reflection of an indicator on a hall light switch in the glass door (yeah, they are pretty bright red).
It was ok when I was passing, but as I went to the kitchen light switch and raised my hand to touch it, all went black. Totally black and silent, without a sound. And then I heard a sound like someone’s scratching a metal with glass, or vise versa.
It was just like those horror movies you watch… The lights go out suddenly, scratching sounds…
I nearly jumped, I swear, and my heart fell. I raised my hand and pushed the switch and then realized the indicators are gone, which means the electricity is gone too.
The metal sound continued and I put myself together to go to the hall and inspect the electricity counter. It was turned on and silent, so the problem lied in the apartment electricity supply.
But I still wasn’t sure what the sound was, so I went around the flat all jumpy, peered out of the windows, took a glimpse of what’s happening behind the front door and then sat down on the sofa. When there’s no electricity there’s no hot water in my flat too. So I just sat and thought and listened to the metallic sounds that were coming from outside. I didn’t bother with finding a candle, I had my mobile phone, but it didn’t help much.
It was (maybe) the longest hour of this month.
Then the electricity supply was restored and I gathered my courage to watch “Silent Hill” until the end. I still do not know what those sounds were, but I’m not too eager to hear them again.
Now it's all about Dutch...
So… I took my time and found few books on Dutch. And also went through them a bit carelessly, stopping at major grammar points.
Well, it didn’t seem that hard to me. Actually, it looked like a sweet and nice grammar book compared to my French grammar books. Another good thing is that pronunciation is much easier than French (for me, at least).
Dutch grammar looked to me as a mix of German, French and English grammar ^^. A simplified mix. And that’s great. Now I have faith that if only I put some efforts I’d get some pretty good results in Dutch.
The bad thing is I have no time for Dutch now, not in-between my Japanese lessons and trying not to forget English and basics of French…
But I’m a bit relieved. Now I’m sure I’d be able to do it xD.
Well, it didn’t seem that hard to me. Actually, it looked like a sweet and nice grammar book compared to my French grammar books. Another good thing is that pronunciation is much easier than French (for me, at least).
Dutch grammar looked to me as a mix of German, French and English grammar ^^. A simplified mix. And that’s great. Now I have faith that if only I put some efforts I’d get some pretty good results in Dutch.
The bad thing is I have no time for Dutch now, not in-between my Japanese lessons and trying not to forget English and basics of French…
But I’m a bit relieved. Now I’m sure I’d be able to do it xD.
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Few days ago my friend put a new song on for me to listen and was very shocked that I started laughing at it.
Well, the song was The 69 eyes ‘Dead ‘n gone’, not exactly a song to make you laugh.
Here you can listen to it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/125493851/53d4866b/03-the_69_eyes-dead_n_gone.html
Like I said I was laughing when I heard it. Why? Actually it reminded me of opening of famous Disney’s cartoon series, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers.
So when I heard that ‘D-d-dead ‘n gone’ I was expecting to hear ‘rescue rangers’ next xD.
As in Disney’s opening: ‘Ch-ch-chip ‘n Dale Rescue rangers’... xD
I still laugh when I think about it.
Here’s that opening at youtube:
video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_-u84TFds
Have you ever watched ‘Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers’ series?
I loved those series when I was a kid. So many good memories associated with it… And the opening sure is catchy ^^.
They don’t do that kind of stuff now, they just don’t…
Well, the song was The 69 eyes ‘Dead ‘n gone’, not exactly a song to make you laugh.
Here you can listen to it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/125493851/53d4866b/03-the_69_eyes-dead_n_gone.html
Like I said I was laughing when I heard it. Why? Actually it reminded me of opening of famous Disney’s cartoon series, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers.
So when I heard that ‘D-d-dead ‘n gone’ I was expecting to hear ‘rescue rangers’ next xD.
As in Disney’s opening: ‘Ch-ch-chip ‘n Dale Rescue rangers’... xD
I still laugh when I think about it.
Here’s that opening at youtube:
video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_-u84TFds
Have you ever watched ‘Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers’ series?
I loved those series when I was a kid. So many good memories associated with it… And the opening sure is catchy ^^.
They don’t do that kind of stuff now, they just don’t…
What I hate about heroes
Since it’s time for a small vacation of mine, I allowed myself to play videogames a little.
Actually, I haven’t played them at all for about two months. Almost forgot how it’s done xD.
I had a big choice of games to play (the ones that I didn’t have time to finish before) that included Mirror’s Edge (I regret buying it – a waste of money, didn’t like it at all), Drakensang (a good old-fashioned RPG, but with a bit slow story), The Lost Crown (stylized horror-quest) and The Last Remnant (J-RPG I played for an hour or so before I put it aside).
I felt an urge for some action, so I started The Last Remnant. I’m used to think that J-RPG is a balanced choice between action and RPG.
Urghhh… I couldn’t stand the behaviour of the main hero (Rush) of The Last Remnant. Someone told me that he’s ‘all that’s good in J-RPG characters’. Well, if you picture idiocy as ‘good’...
For me there’s nothing more irritating than ‘all good and fluffy’ character, and there’s nothing worse than ‘oh this world can’t be as bad as you say it is’ or ‘oh how I wish I could make a change… and I will!’ attitude. Also I think the image of ‘raised in just and pure climate’ hero which happens to contact ‘impure and unjust world’ has outlived itself, at least in a setting where he seems to never learn… Rush is behaving like a 10-years old child being 16 (OK, J-RPG usually features teens, let it be)...
Children must grow up someday, don’t you think? And grow up faster when they are forced to…
Anyhow, I couldn’t stand it, couldn’t hear ‘oh Irina!’ anymore, couldn’t watch cutscenes where a child is Rushing around making a mess ^^ ...
Did I become too old or something?
To conclude an experiment, I found my Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (someone mentioned it here not so long ago) and started it via pcsx2… Even with emulator’s lags it was like a balm for my nerves. A hero with some common sense! Hurray! xD
Actually, I haven’t played them at all for about two months. Almost forgot how it’s done xD.
I had a big choice of games to play (the ones that I didn’t have time to finish before) that included Mirror’s Edge (I regret buying it – a waste of money, didn’t like it at all), Drakensang (a good old-fashioned RPG, but with a bit slow story), The Lost Crown (stylized horror-quest) and The Last Remnant (J-RPG I played for an hour or so before I put it aside).
I felt an urge for some action, so I started The Last Remnant. I’m used to think that J-RPG is a balanced choice between action and RPG.
Urghhh… I couldn’t stand the behaviour of the main hero (Rush) of The Last Remnant. Someone told me that he’s ‘all that’s good in J-RPG characters’. Well, if you picture idiocy as ‘good’...
For me there’s nothing more irritating than ‘all good and fluffy’ character, and there’s nothing worse than ‘oh this world can’t be as bad as you say it is’ or ‘oh how I wish I could make a change… and I will!’ attitude. Also I think the image of ‘raised in just and pure climate’ hero which happens to contact ‘impure and unjust world’ has outlived itself, at least in a setting where he seems to never learn… Rush is behaving like a 10-years old child being 16 (OK, J-RPG usually features teens, let it be)...
Children must grow up someday, don’t you think? And grow up faster when they are forced to…
Anyhow, I couldn’t stand it, couldn’t hear ‘oh Irina!’ anymore, couldn’t watch cutscenes where a child is Rushing around making a mess ^^ ...
Did I become too old or something?
To conclude an experiment, I found my Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (someone mentioned it here not so long ago) and started it via pcsx2… Even with emulator’s lags it was like a balm for my nerves. A hero with some common sense! Hurray! xD
Games, parental advisory and future
y previous post about games put me onto interesting trail of thought…
About games…
I feel that current marketing and ‘parental advisory’ strategies of publishers are deteriorating game industry in general. Take Fallout series for example… Fallout 1 and 2 were megabombs, even if they featured some violence, blood, drugs, s.e.x. and alcohol references… Fallout 3 with strong parental advisory isn’t Fallout at all. Cyber punk without violence, blood, etc. isn’t cyber punk. ^^
There’re more examples with the same outcome…
Btw, what do publishers want to achieve ‘shielding children’ from violence etc. in games? They just cut game audience in two or three. And anyhow children do make contact with violence and blood (etc.) in everyday life, there’s no way to avoid it. Parents that comfort themselves with illusions that their child ‘is protected’ from negative influence of ‘outside’ world are only fooling themselves and making things worse.
Children that were in close contact with animals during their early childhood aren’t likely to develop animal fur allergy… Then why do we have to prevent our children from contact with factors they will surely contact in their future life?
Isn’t it better to teach your child how to deal with a problem than avoid it?
I remember how my parents taught me how to deal with alcohol, drugs and s.e.x. … it wasn’t a path of denial or over-protection. And I turned out quite fine, I don’t smoke, don’t drink excessively (I can drink a bottle of beer with friends or drink some wine), don’t abuse drugs, and I’m OK in the area of intimate relationships. ^^
And no one made me ‘avoid’ games and movies with violence, alcohol reference, etc. I was my own adviser.
So… I think this ‘parental advisory’ thing is over-protecting and absurd. No telling how I pity teens whose parents take it too seriously.
… also we must remember that the stronger we deny the right to try to our children, the more they want to try…
About games…
I feel that current marketing and ‘parental advisory’ strategies of publishers are deteriorating game industry in general. Take Fallout series for example… Fallout 1 and 2 were megabombs, even if they featured some violence, blood, drugs, s.e.x. and alcohol references… Fallout 3 with strong parental advisory isn’t Fallout at all. Cyber punk without violence, blood, etc. isn’t cyber punk. ^^
There’re more examples with the same outcome…
Btw, what do publishers want to achieve ‘shielding children’ from violence etc. in games? They just cut game audience in two or three. And anyhow children do make contact with violence and blood (etc.) in everyday life, there’s no way to avoid it. Parents that comfort themselves with illusions that their child ‘is protected’ from negative influence of ‘outside’ world are only fooling themselves and making things worse.
Children that were in close contact with animals during their early childhood aren’t likely to develop animal fur allergy… Then why do we have to prevent our children from contact with factors they will surely contact in their future life?
Isn’t it better to teach your child how to deal with a problem than avoid it?
I remember how my parents taught me how to deal with alcohol, drugs and s.e.x. … it wasn’t a path of denial or over-protection. And I turned out quite fine, I don’t smoke, don’t drink excessively (I can drink a bottle of beer with friends or drink some wine), don’t abuse drugs, and I’m OK in the area of intimate relationships. ^^
And no one made me ‘avoid’ games and movies with violence, alcohol reference, etc. I was my own adviser.
So… I think this ‘parental advisory’ thing is over-protecting and absurd. No telling how I pity teens whose parents take it too seriously.
… also we must remember that the stronger we deny the right to try to our children, the more they want to try…
My flight
At last I’ve decided to post entry here about my recent activities.
Well, actually I’ve had a small vacation, but couldn’t find time to relax during it. Usually when you get a vacation you have so many things ‘you couldn’t find time to do before’ piled up that you simply can’t find time for a vacation itself… It is sad, but true…
Hm, I checked a calendar and found out that it was Thursday, the 3rd of September when I had an interesting experience with my friends.
We had gathered and had a flight on a balloon. Yep, those big things in the sky with a basket attached to them. :) Here’s the photo where guys from aero club inflate it:
We had a flight at the altitude of about 300 meters and it lasted about an hour. (And it was pretty expensive as I gather).
Before I got ‘onboard’ (inbasket, lol) I thought it might be scary. I’m not very good with heights in the city, I’m getting nervous looking down from the balcony of a 20-storey house.
But in the open space I’m doing ok, for example in mountains, I was doing fine even when I was riding a mountain lift which took us over 700 meters above sea level. Call me city-heights-holic ^^.
So it was ok with me to be 300 meters above ground in a open basket below the balloon…
Here’s a photo of bird’s-eye view of Ukrainian countryside:
And here’s photo of a village we passed (and then landed near it). All the village kids were ours… :)
Another view of a forest and a forest lake. The web-like cover on the surface – lilies and such. Funny, isn’t it? Also they look like veins.
About my impressions… Well, it was fun and maybe I even loved flying.
But there’re multiple cons: a) it is a very expensive passing of time; b) it gets dull after 30 minutes or so, because you get used to scenery and there’s nothing to do up there but look down; c) it takes much time to get to the flying field and back if you live in Kiev (min 1 hour to get there); d) view depends on weather conditions and time of the day; and so on.
Ahead lies field where we’ve landed… There were fewer furrows before us ^^.
Landing was fun… yeah, really it was, though my hands hurt even few days after. When balloon descended and basket touched the ground (upper part being still carried by the wind) we received quite a blow and nearly fell out of the basket which began to overturn… We’ve landed only after 2nd or 3rd hit when our pilot managed to deflate the balloon enough to make it fall under its own weight…
Hmmm… That’s all news for now… And now I’m going back to work.
And now few words about it in Japanese ^^
小さい休暇の中ので、私に短い暇がありました。今、休暇はほとんど終わりました。
月曜日には、きっと大変なことになります。本当の長い休暇が欲しいです・・・この四日で、休めるの可能性を見つけませんでした。
木曜日に、面白い経験をしました。友達と一緒にバルーンで飛びました。高いところが少しだけ怖くて、とても怖い飛行になると思いました。バルーン で300ｍまで上がりました。実際には、楽しかったです。バルーンから土を見て、高い場所の風を感じて、旅の提案を受け入れたのはうれしいです。
飛ぶことが好きになったかもしれません。
水泳が大好きだけど、飛行もいいと感じます。（高いことですけど）
まぁぁ・・・ニュースはここまでです。後で仕事があります。
Well, actually I’ve had a small vacation, but couldn’t find time to relax during it. Usually when you get a vacation you have so many things ‘you couldn’t find time to do before’ piled up that you simply can’t find time for a vacation itself… It is sad, but true…
Hm, I checked a calendar and found out that it was Thursday, the 3rd of September when I had an interesting experience with my friends.
We had gathered and had a flight on a balloon. Yep, those big things in the sky with a basket attached to them. :) Here’s the photo where guys from aero club inflate it:
We had a flight at the altitude of about 300 meters and it lasted about an hour. (And it was pretty expensive as I gather).
Before I got ‘onboard’ (inbasket, lol) I thought it might be scary. I’m not very good with heights in the city, I’m getting nervous looking down from the balcony of a 20-storey house.
But in the open space I’m doing ok, for example in mountains, I was doing fine even when I was riding a mountain lift which took us over 700 meters above sea level. Call me city-heights-holic ^^.
So it was ok with me to be 300 meters above ground in a open basket below the balloon…
Here’s a photo of bird’s-eye view of Ukrainian countryside:
And here’s photo of a village we passed (and then landed near it). All the village kids were ours… :)
Another view of a forest and a forest lake. The web-like cover on the surface – lilies and such. Funny, isn’t it? Also they look like veins.
About my impressions… Well, it was fun and maybe I even loved flying.
But there’re multiple cons: a) it is a very expensive passing of time; b) it gets dull after 30 minutes or so, because you get used to scenery and there’s nothing to do up there but look down; c) it takes much time to get to the flying field and back if you live in Kiev (min 1 hour to get there); d) view depends on weather conditions and time of the day; and so on.
Ahead lies field where we’ve landed… There were fewer furrows before us ^^.
Landing was fun… yeah, really it was, though my hands hurt even few days after. When balloon descended and basket touched the ground (upper part being still carried by the wind) we received quite a blow and nearly fell out of the basket which began to overturn… We’ve landed only after 2nd or 3rd hit when our pilot managed to deflate the balloon enough to make it fall under its own weight…
Hmmm… That’s all news for now… And now I’m going back to work.
And now few words about it in Japanese ^^
小さい休暇の中ので、私に短い暇がありました。今、休暇はほとんど終わりました。
月曜日には、きっと大変なことになります。本当の長い休暇が欲しいです・・・この四日で、休めるの可能性を見つけませんでした。
木曜日に、面白い経験をしました。友達と一緒にバルーンで飛びました。高いところが少しだけ怖くて、とても怖い飛行になると思いました。バルーン で300ｍまで上がりました。実際には、楽しかったです。バルーンから土を見て、高い場所の風を感じて、旅の提案を受け入れたのはうれしいです。
飛ぶことが好きになったかもしれません。
水泳が大好きだけど、飛行もいいと感じます。（高いことですけど）
まぁぁ・・・ニュースはここまでです。後で仕事があります。
A.O.A. (Annoying, obtrusive, abusive) service \\\ Or just...
Have you ever prayed and sworn to yourself while thinking about excessive things you were made to buy ‘with’ or ‘get free’ with something? (Of course, they fail to mention that the price of ‘bonus’ is included in total price)
I just had the same experience for the (n+m)’th time .. this time about a flash drive with ‘free software’ that I don’t care about, but which is always in fight with my OS and anti-virus software. And guess what? It’s very hard to switch off…
‘Why sellers are always putting ‘extra software’ in? Hello, I wanted only a flash drive. Why should I go through hell to switch off things I don’t need?’
Urghhh… Beat it… I was very angry… very-very-very angry… again… But now I’m fine. Those are calamities of our world.
Recently I’ve been watching a TV series about the same thing. The series are called ‘Hotel Babylon’ and feature life of a five-star hotel, it’s business and personal life.
And the best thing there is that they have a motto:
‘People must spend big money here. If they don’t want to, MAKE them spend big money here’.
A good example of service that works with A.O.A. It’s a funny show, but if you think about it, it gets sad.
The same things are surrounding us everywhere now.
We are simply MADE to spend money most of the times we go to buy something and even if we don’t, we might end up buying something.
‘Marketing is about satisfying demands of customers’.
Huh. I learned that in uni. As well as another postulate of marketing:
‘It’s always easier to create demands than search for ways of satisfying demands that arose by themselves’.
I just had the same experience for the (n+m)’th time .. this time about a flash drive with ‘free software’ that I don’t care about, but which is always in fight with my OS and anti-virus software. And guess what? It’s very hard to switch off…
‘Why sellers are always putting ‘extra software’ in? Hello, I wanted only a flash drive. Why should I go through hell to switch off things I don’t need?’
Urghhh… Beat it… I was very angry… very-very-very angry… again… But now I’m fine. Those are calamities of our world.
Recently I’ve been watching a TV series about the same thing. The series are called ‘Hotel Babylon’ and feature life of a five-star hotel, it’s business and personal life.
And the best thing there is that they have a motto:
‘People must spend big money here. If they don’t want to, MAKE them spend big money here’.
A good example of service that works with A.O.A. It’s a funny show, but if you think about it, it gets sad.
The same things are surrounding us everywhere now.
We are simply MADE to spend money most of the times we go to buy something and even if we don’t, we might end up buying something.
‘Marketing is about satisfying demands of customers’.
Huh. I learned that in uni. As well as another postulate of marketing:
‘It’s always easier to create demands than search for ways of satisfying demands that arose by themselves’.
on today's posts
today I'll be importing blog posts from smart.fm here since smart.fm closes soon and I don't wanna lose some of my posts there.
Friday, February 18
750 words v2.0
Ok, lemme tell you this straight: the experiment with 750words.com didn't go well.
The site itself is laggy, but I could have tolerated that.
In fact, the only thing that drove me off completely was the fact that the site is unable to save proper formatting of text. Imagine that you enter text:
Yyyy
Xxxxx
Zzz
... and save it on 750words.
You come back and you see
Yyyy Xxxxx Zzz
So, to save your paragraphs and other formatting, you have to save text somewhere else before you leave 750words. What's the point in the website itself then?
You can work in your usual text editor then without any need to get online, or if you are not near your pc, you can use Google docs.
The site itself is laggy, but I could have tolerated that.
In fact, the only thing that drove me off completely was the fact that the site is unable to save proper formatting of text. Imagine that you enter text:
Yyyy
Xxxxx
Zzz
... and save it on 750words.
You come back and you see
Yyyy Xxxxx Zzz
So, to save your paragraphs and other formatting, you have to save text somewhere else before you leave 750words. What's the point in the website itself then?
You can work in your usual text editor then without any need to get online, or if you are not near your pc, you can use Google docs.
Thursday, February 17
snow
Today's morning:
- me sits on a couch near window and drinks coffee;
- my cat sits at the window with air of utmost importance around her and catches every movement of yard-keeper that tries to shovel snow and ice.
Since it's mostly ice, he works slowly and painfully. My cat doesn't even flinch - just stares at him. Every time he turns around to face the window, he faces her dignified figure. In about ten minutes he starts to eye his work and her with anger. In two more minutes he just spits, takes his shovel and strolls off. And so she also strolls off to see to her plate.
Entertainment for both, eh?
- me sits on a couch near window and drinks coffee;
- my cat sits at the window with air of utmost importance around her and catches every movement of yard-keeper that tries to shovel snow and ice.
Since it's mostly ice, he works slowly and painfully. My cat doesn't even flinch - just stares at him. Every time he turns around to face the window, he faces her dignified figure. In about ten minutes he starts to eye his work and her with anger. In two more minutes he just spits, takes his shovel and strolls off. And so she also strolls off to see to her plate.
Entertainment for both, eh?
Wednesday, February 16
Tuesday, February 15
украинофилы
недавно на сайте 5го канала прочла такое новомодное украинское слово "МИСТКИНЯ".
секунд 10 размышляла, что оно такое... а потом до меня дошло!
ну вы поняли, да?
"мисткиня" - это "митець" женского пола. при этом непонятно, где вылезла буква "С".
вы как хотите, а мне противны эти поползновения в идиотизм... выдумывание "главное не таких, как в русском" слов...
оно даже в "милозвучну мову" не лезет никак. "СТК"... чисто украинское слово, ага...
в общем - жуть.
секунд 10 размышляла, что оно такое... а потом до меня дошло!
ну вы поняли, да?
"мисткиня" - это "митець" женского пола. при этом непонятно, где вылезла буква "С".
вы как хотите, а мне противны эти поползновения в идиотизм... выдумывание "главное не таких, как в русском" слов...
оно даже в "милозвучну мову" не лезет никак. "СТК"... чисто украинское слово, ага...
в общем - жуть.
Wednesday, February 9
Roxette 2011
I had listened to a part of live that Roxette run not so long ago in St. Petersburg.
I was surprised and suspicious when they announced they're back and hell yeah I was right to be suspicious.
They were a great band and I love their songs. Really. But what I heard on that recording is... shitty.
With all my love I have to say that.
The sound is awful. They can't sing their songs right - or rather - SHE can't sing. Some songs gave me strong idea Marie didn't want to do it, but something pressed her and now she's a bystander on a show opening her mouth only when there's an urge to.
Such a bummer yeah? But it was expected... after such a long time getting back together is almost impossible. Things will never be the same eh?
Though Per is making all he can to save the sinking boat and it shows. Good luck man.
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